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Palestinian Nazi parallel enrages Israel

Thursday, 28 April 2016 7:34 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 28 April 2016 7:54 AM ]

Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour speaks to journalists at the UN in New York on April 6, 2015. © AFP

The Palestinian envoy to the UN has drawn a parallel between the regime in Tel Aviv and Nazi Germany, criticizing Israel for branding all the Palestinians who oppose Israeli policies as “terrorists.”

Addressing reporters in New York on Wednesday, Riyad Mansour hit back at recent comments by Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon, who had called Palestinian protesters in the occupied lands “terrorists.”

During an April 18 UN Security Council meeting, Danon had accused Palestinians of teaching “hatred” in their schools and said they glorify what he called acts of terror against Israelis amid heightened tensions in the occupied West Bank.

Mansour hit back at Danon and said the Israeli official tries to portray as “terrorists” the Palestinian people “who have legitimate rights to resist occupation in legitimate ways.”

The Palestinian diplomat further likened the regime in Tel Aviv to Nazi Germany and said “all colonizers” throughout the history described “those who resisted them as terrorists.”

The comparison, however, drew an angry reaction from Danon, who said equating Tel Aviv with Nazi Germany was “despicable.”

Israeli forces aim their weapons towards Palestinian protesters during clashes in the village of Kfar Qaddum, near Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, on March 4, 2016. ©AFP

Elsewhere in his remarks, Mansour said the UN Security Council would hold a meeting early next month on the protection of Palestinian civilians in the Israeli-occupied territories.

“Our desire is to find any form of protection to protect our people from the brutality of this occupation,” added the Palestinian official.

The occupied Palestinian territories have been the scene of heightened tensions since August 2015, when Israel imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East al-Quds, revered by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.

The Palestinians say the Tel Aviv regime seeks to change the status quo of the holy Muslim site.

Palestinians are also angry over Israeli settler attacks in the occupied territories and repeated desecration of the al-Aqsa compound by extremist settlers, who are usually accompanied by Israeli military forces.

At least 210 Palestinians, including children and women, have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces in what is regarded as the third Palestinian Intifada since the beginning of last October.

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